Computer games and other software applications often must graphically display a plurality of gauges or other indicators to convey information of interest to a user. Typically, however, each of the plurality of gauges is separately overlaid upon the display using a large portion of the available space. For example, in a computer simulated automobile racing game, a large area of the visual display is devoted to separate gauges and indicators that display parameters such as a vehicle's speed, engine rotational speed, fuel level, gear selection, and other information of interest to a driver of the vehicle.
Such information is sometimes provided as part of a “heads up display” (HUD) comprising multiple gauges overlying a view through a port of a window. For example, an automobile in a racing game may include a tachometer, a speedometer, a fuel gauge, a turbocharger indicator, and a gear indicator that are displayed as a HUD over the view of the race course and of other cars seen by the driver through the front window of the vehicle. These gauges display the parameters most commonly accessed to determine the state of an automobile and are the most important to the driver in such a game. Thus, in this and other types of games, it is necessary that the player be able to easily see these gauges and the information they present. However, the traditional method of separately displaying the necessary gauges in a HUD uses too much of the valuable visual area of the display. Because each gauge is separately superimposed or overlaid upon the background visible through the window in the display, the HUD tends to obscure too much of the action in a game, making the game less enjoyable and more difficult to play.
Clearly, it would be desirable to reduce the area occluded by gauges in a display as much as possible. One way to decrease the area used by the gauges is to cycle through the gauges on the display in some predefined order. Typically, the game player must perform a specified action to cause the program to cycle from displaying a current gauge to displaying a next gauge. This method typically uses only a portion of the display to display a gauge, and only one gauge may be shown at a time to provide information to the game player. This method of cycling through the various gauges helps to reduce the display area obscured, since only one gauge is displayed at a time, but the game player cannot concentrate on the game action when cycling through different gauges to display the gauge that provides desired information. Requiring a player to cycle through the gauges wastes valuable time and is distracting. The time wasted to find information needed to play a game is frustrating and reduces the enjoyment of the game experienced by a player.
Another problem that arises in the prior art when a plurality of gauges must be displayed is that the computing resources required for rendering the separate gauges can perceptively slow the game, particularly on a computer with marginal computational and display rendering capabilities. Also, to increase the realism of a game simulation, computer games often render objects three-dimensionally (i.e., using 3D rendering). In a racing game, 3D-rendered gauges might be rendered in a 3D dashboard to simulate the inside of a real automobile. However, 3D rendering requires more computer resources and can reduce overall game speed on systems with inadequate processor speed and insufficient random access memory (RAM). To remedy this problem, the prior art simply enables the player to turn off some of the less important gauges. However, this approach limits the player's enjoyment of the game by limiting the information available.
Certain games make the HUD relatively complicated by including too many gauges, making it virtually impossible for the average player to make sense of all the information presented in the gauges. For example, a space flight game called JumpGate by StraticsCom, Inc. employs a HUD that includes arcing bar indicators, flashing light indicators, a multitude of color indicators, text, digital values, and percentages of other parameters. The HUD further includes crosshairs for targeting weapons and is disposed in the center of the screen such that the central portion of the display area is generally occluded. The multiple arcing bar indicators are arranged about the center of the crosshairs, and each arcing bar indicator indicates a relative value of a different parameter. For example, a velocity meter is graphically represented as an arc that simulates a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs). As velocity increases, additional simulated LEDs light up along the arc. A corresponding numerical velocity value is displayed as a digital number in another location of the display. Similarly, a fuel meter is represented as a curved line that extends or retracts along an arc as the fuel level increases or decreases, respectively, but a corresponding numerical fuel level is not shown. Although arranged about a common center, these arcing bar indicators do not display a numerical value with the visual arc. Thus, the game player must look in different locations to obtain complete information, and it appears that this arrangement is unnecessarily complex.
There is an advantage in organizing information concentrically around a common center on a gauge. Such an approach appears to require less space to convey information than spatially separate gauges. Some simple gauges integrate numerical and graphic information around a common center using parameters that are directly related to each other. For example, the graphic analog clock accessible in the task bar on a personal computer includes numerical values around a clock face. A second hand, a minute hand, and an hour hand rotate about the center of the same clock face. Because seconds, minutes, and hours are directed to the same parameter (time) and are indicated over the same range (i.e., zero to sixty minutes represented over a period of twelve hours), the same numerical values are relevant to each hand. However, the prior art does not appear to disclose concentric gauges that use different ranges and/or different values to indicate the status of several independent parameters.
As noted above, it would be desirable to minimize the display area required by gauges and indicators for providing information needed by a user in a game and in other software programs. Specifically, it would be desirable to provide an integrated, easy to read display of multiple independent parameters that is compact and sufficiently simple to enable a user to rapidly understand the information presented therein. It would also be desirable to provide an integrated display that can be semi-transparently superimposed over an underlying view, and to enable a user to change the size and location of such a display. It would further be desirable to provide an integrated display that has the functionality of traditional separate gauges, yet does not require excessive rendering time.